User Profile

Cristina Sacco

A Welcome Reunion

By Cristina Sacco of the Multicultural Communities Council of Illawarra (MCCI), which delivers the Welcome Experience, a free support service in the Illawarra Shoalhaven Lita and Livia grew up in the same small, tight-knit and vibrant Fijian...

Cristina Sacco

July 2025

Clubs & Community

MCCI to deliver The Welcome Experience in the Illawarra Shoalhaven region

Find out how you can make the move today – visit www. nsw. gov. au/welcomeexperience

Cristina Sacco

September 2024

Clubs & Community

Go to police ball, help raise funds for young people from refugee backgrounds

The Illawarra Police Charity Ball on July 26 at the University of Wollongong will help raise vital funds to support young people at MCCI like Hasnaa. Hasnaa was 14 years old when she came to Wollongong and met Bec and MCCI’s youth team through Links...

Cristina Sacco

June 2024

Clubs & Community

Warm-hearted people donate and crochet blankets to aid MCCI Refugee Support’s winter appeal

Winter has arrived and MCCI Refugee Support has started to distribute handmade blankets and blankets purchased with $2000 of generous donations to support 68 newly arrived community members. The cold season brings new and unfamiliar challenges...

Cristina Sacco

June 2024

Clubs & Community

Congratulations to MCCI Youth Scholarship Winners

The Multicultural Communities Council of Illawarra (MCCI) Youth Scholarship Program, in its second year, is designed to support learning and education goals for young people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. “The program not...

Cristina Sacco

April 2024

Clubs & Community

Welcome to Wollongong: MCCI Refugee Support hosts annual barbecue

This month MCCI Refugee Support held its annual BBQ at Live Steamers with over 170 community members in attendance. This is the biggest social inclusion event of the year for MCCI Refugee Support. “Events like these are so important. While young and...

Cristina Sacco

November 2023

News

MCCI celebrates Multicultural Communities Services Awards

MCCI has proudly delivered high quality services and support to multicultural communities for over 48 years. As the regional peak body for multicultural associations, we take our role to represent members’ interests seriously and every two years we celebrate MCCI members who have made an outstanding contribution to the local multicultural community. This year we celebrated four winners.

Cristina Sacco

October 2023

Clubs & Community

Bulli High School students take on Refugee Challenge

More than 110 million people have been forced to flee their homes, according to UNHCR. What would it be like to leave everything behind, cross borders and settle in a new country? Students at Bulli High School have been guided through a simulated...

Cristina Sacco

September 2023

News

SCARF celebrates Refugee Week

Last week Refugee Week celebrations were held at Wollongong Town Hall, a collaboration with SCARF, MCCI, Wollongong Council, Red Cross, IMS, TAFE NSW, Max Solutions and STARTTS. The event kicked off with a Welcome to Country by Uncle Richard Davis...

Cristina Sacco

June 2023

Letter to the editor

Wanted: loving homes for kittens

I have been fostering kittens and cats for over two years now. Fostering sounds like fun and games. Who doesn’t want to play with kittens all day? However, there is a more serious side to animal rescue. One of my rescue cats, Frankie, serves as...

Cristina Sacco

May 2023

Clubs & Community

Young voices power new podcasts

In April, the Multicultural Communities Council of Illawarra celebrated the launch of the Amplifying M Voices podcasts. Young people don’t get given a lot of times to share their stories, their lives, their voices. Take that thought and imagine...

Cristina Sacco

May 2023

Clubs & Community

It’s OK not to be OK

MCCI is raising mental health awareness among multicultural youth, writes Cristina Sacco For the young people who attended the two-day mental health first aid course over the school holidays, it was both a confronting and challenging learning...

Cristina Sacco

March 2023

Sport & Leisure

Support Savvy Survivor fundraiser for refugees

SCARF by MCCI has been selected by Savvy Fitness as the charity for the Maguire and McInerney Savvy Survivor in Wollongong from 11 to 17 December 2022. The seven-day team charity event is about teamwork, fun and participation. Savvy Survivor...

Cristina Sacco

December 2022

Clubs & Community

Award for women’s rights advocate

Shahira Mohseni has been named NSW’s Rotary Young Inspirational Woman for 2022 at the Rotary Inspirational Women’s Award ceremony. Shahira was born in Afghanistan, where education was forbidden under Taliban rule. She was educated at home by her...

Cristina Sacco

October 2022